↑Jesus informed the disciples that the wine he had drunk (at this Passover preceding the Memorial) was the last of the product of the vine that he would drink “until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father.” ([URL='https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/1200002773/8/0']Mt 26:29) Since he would not be drinking literal wine in heaven, he obviously had reference to what wine sometimes symbolized in the Scriptures, namely, joy. Being together in the Kingdom was what they looked forward to with highest anticipation. (
Ro 8:23; 2Co 5:2) King David wrote, in song, of Jehovah’s provision of “wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice,” and his son Solomon said: “Wine itself makes life rejoice.”—
Ps 104:15; Ec 10:19.[/URL]
According to the inspired Scriptures, Jesus Christ was not raised to life in the flesh. At
1 Peter 3:18 we read that he was ‘put to death in the flesh but
made alive in the spirit.’ (
New World Translation; American Standard Version; C. B. Williams translation) Other scriptures confirm that Jesus simply could not have been raised bodily as a man of flesh and blood.
It was God’s purpose for his Son to resume heavenly life and not to continue living as a man on earth. This necessitated Jesus’ being raised as a spirit person, for persons of flesh and blood cannot live in the heavens. The apostle Paul wrote: “Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”—
1 Cor. 15:50.
In the case of the man Jesus Christ, his flesh was a barrier that prevented access to the heavenly realm. Jesus’ “flesh” is, therefore, spoken of at
Hebrews 10:20 as being represented by the “curtain” that separated the Holy from the Most Holy in the tabernacle. Before he could enter heaven, the real “Most Holy,” Jesus had to give up his fleshly existence and receive spirit nature. His body of flesh would have been a barrier to his going beyond the “curtain” as a spirit person.
Another factor that should not be overlooked is that the goat and the bull offered on the day of atonement represented the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Law, which prescribed these sacrifices, served as “a shadow of the things to come.” (
Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1) As we know, a shadow gives the general shape or design of the reality that casts it. Hence, for the shadow to be fulfilled in the reality, Jesus could not have taken back his sacrificed body of flesh and blood, since the bodies of those sacrificial victims were thoroughly disposed of by burning. (
Heb. 13:11, 12) So it logically follows that Jehovah God disposed of the sacrificed body of his Son. Moreover, if Jesus had taken back his body of flesh, his sacrifice would have been temporary, without continuing atoning value.
That Jesus was not raised in the flesh explains why two of his disciples and Mary Magdalene did not recognize him by his postresurrection physical appearances. They only discerned who he was by what he said or did.—
Luke 24:13-31; John 20:14, 15.
True, for the benefit of doubting Thomas, Jesus did appear with the physical evidence of nail prints in his hands and a spear wound in his side. (
John 20:24-29) Yet, even in connection with that manifestation, there is proof that Jesus must have momentarily materialized a physical body of flesh. An eyewitness, the apostle John, reported: “Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and he stood in their midst.” (
John 20:26) Manifestly, the apostle John would not have made a point of this if Jesus had simply opened the door and then physically entered the room. Evidently Jesus appeared suddenly in the midst of the disciples; the locked door did not obstruct his entry. This was something a man of flesh could not have done. But it is something that spirit persons in materializing could do.
So I disagree that Jesus has a body of flesh, instead he was resurrected a powerful spiritual creature.
![thumbup1[1].gif](https://www.christianityboard.com/data/attachments/33/33989-3c6b26485b350618916838a7a8f4387e.jpg "thumbup1[1].gif"){kind=small}
![thumbup1[1].gif](https://www.christianityboard.com/data/attachments/33/33991-3c6b26485b350618916838a7a8f4387e.jpg "thumbup1[1].gif"){kind=small}
